Don’t mess with Canuck Tom Sestito … or his kid sister

Rugged winger’s sister Victoria gets into it on Twitter with ESPN’s Keith Olbermann

'Thanks for the recognition, bud. Maybe send a tweet my way to get me some followers,' Vancouver Canucks enforcer Tom Sestito tweeted to ESPN TV show host Keith Olbermann.

Photograph by: Gregg Forwerck
, NHLI via Getty Images

ANAHEIM, Calif. — A big part of Tom Sestito’s job with the Vancouver Canucks is having the backs of his teammates.

But who watches out for Sestito? Well, that would be his 13-year-old sister Victoria.

She got into it on Twitter on Tuesday night with ESPN’s Keith Olbermann, who made Tom the winner of his Worst Person in the Sports World segment following his one-second, 27-penalty-minute performance on Monday night vs. the Los Angeles Kings.

“I’d describe him as a hockey player except he’s not,” Olbermann said of Sestito. “Last night he played his 101st NHL game. He has nine career goals, four career assists in those 101 games, so to break Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goals record he’d need about 10,000 games. About 123 seasons. But in those 101 games he now has 342 career minutes in penalties. How do you do that? You play one second at get 27 minutes. That is what Sestito did (Monday) night against the L.A. Kings.”

Olbermann went on to call Sestito a “six-foot, five-inch boxing hobo on skates.”

Victoria was not amused and fired off this tweet to Olbermann: “The Sestito household enjoys your arrogant left-wing blurbs and we are looking forward to your next-firing :)”

In his report Olbermann noted that Sestito earned $7,268 for his one second of work on Monday night.

Before Wednesday night’s game Sestito said he really wasn’t surprised by his little sister’s actions.

“She’s a feisty one,” Sestito said. “I was laughing away at it. I thought it was pretty funny.”

As for Olbermann calling him a boxing hobo on skates: “What am I going to do. Everyone has their opinion. That guy doesn’t really know much about hockey, does he?”

NOT READY: Don’t look for Zack Kassian playing alongside Daniel and Henrik Sedin any time soon.

“No, he's going to go through the process,” Tortorella told the Team 1040 in an interview before Wednesday night’s game. “(That idea) is frustrating to me because I think we're going the right way with Zack. He's beginning to get it. He's on the cusp of understanding what it is to be a pro; he still doesn't get that yet.

“I did say when I first came here that I'd like to try to give him a chance (with the Sedins). But as I've gotten to know him and seen some of the things he needs to learn, I think he's going along the right way here.”

Tortorella said Kassian still needs to work on his consistency and defensive play.

“He's still very inconsistent. He plays a game two nights ago that makes your mouth water as far as what you have there. Then the other night, I can't even find him. People have to understand that when you're playing on a top line, I'm usually playing my top line against the other team's top line. There is a defensive part of it, too, and he still does not get that — as far as playing away from the puck. These games are so close, you have to be really careful there.

“He'll get some time there eventually, but people think that because he's a high pick and there's a lot of things around him that he should be a top-line player. I don't give a damn what the pick is, what he makes or what's gone on. He needs to be in a type of situation where he goes through the (learning) process. He's 22 years old. You don't want to give him all that stuff right away. He needs to go through the process.”

BANG FOR THE BUCK: According to capgeek.com, the two best bargains in the NHL were to face off against each another on Wednesday night at the Honda Center.

Canucks forward Mike Santorelli is listed as the NHL’s best bargain. Santorelli is making $550,000 this season, averaging 18:40 of ice time and has 28 points.

Capgeek assesses his “value” as 19,643. Value is defined as cap dollars per point/assist/goal/minutes of ice time per game.

Second on the list is Anaheim centre Nick Bonino, who is making $700,000, averaging 16:25 of ice time and has 33 points. His value is $21,212.

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